Time doesn't wait for anyone
by WhiteDemon01
Summary: A steampunk girl goes to Beacon to honor the dying wish of a Huntress. This is her story.
1. Chapter 1

**Time doesn't wait for anyone**

**Chapter 1: This Needs More Steampunk**

It is the first day of Beacon Academy, the day when new would-be students arrive. Some students are looking out of the airship windows, leaving many at a loss for words and other students' stomachs turning.

One young girl in particular is doing neither. She is sitting on the edge of one of the many benches near the windows as to not block the view for students wanting to look outside.

Her head is hanging down and her eyes are closed, a steampunk top hat with gears lining the brim staying where it is as if suspended by magic. Purple hair on top with an undercut on the sides is hiding the scarred right side of her face.

She has her arms crossed on her chest and it is particularly obvious to anyone, who cares to look at her, that she is not as blessed in that area as other girls on the airship. Through an open leather jacket, with a large collar and chains on the chest area, a white shirt is visible. Only one thing is notable about her arms. She wears 2 watches on each arm that all show different times. If there is a theme to the time on the watches, only she knows it.

Her pants lined with belts on one leg and holes on the other, a chain hanging out of the right pocket, connecting to a pocket watch. A sword, just short of a long sword is hanging on the left side of her hip. Its light purple, almost red, sheath beautifully connecting to the dark red hilt, making it look like they are one piece with bright red ruby as its pommel. The only thing not steampunk about her outfit are her steel toed, worn-out leather boots.

To anyone on the ship she looked like any other would-be student. While she certainly has the skill to become a Huntress, she has no interest in actually becoming one.

Both her Aura and Semblance have unlocked themselves at the same time, an event she never talks to anyone about. Ever. She doesn't try to hide it, but thinks it isn't something others should be burdened with. Said event is also the reason she never wants to become a Huntress.

A holographic-screen opens up, playing the local news station. Something about a Faunus civil rights movement that went violent when a Faunus terrorist organization disrupted it. The anchor Lady starts a new sentence but is cut off by a message to the would-be students by the vice-headmistress Glynda Goodwitch. She would likely be the key to find the headmaster, Professor Ozpin.

Those two names remind her of a story she loved as a child. "_The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz_", it's called. She only remembers bits and pieces but the names are something that will always stick with her.

The airship will land soon, so the girl decided to hum a tune that just appeared in her mind.

The airship finally lands on Beacons landing platform and the students pour out. She waits for everyone to be out before standing up and turning to leave. Walking into the courtyard, she holds both arms in front of her, looking at the watches, before also pulling out her pocket watch and checking the time it displays.

"Another hour until Ozpins speech. I guess I have time to kill." she chuckles at the thought.

_'Time to kill' as if it could be killed. I should know considering my semblance._

The girl looks up and two girls catch her attention. One of them clad in white with light blue accents to match her pure white hair and if that wouldn't enough to identify her as Weiss Schnee, the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, the rapier on her hip, her petite body and attitude do it for you.

Miss Schnee was yelling at the second girl that caught her attention. A young girl, a bit young to attend Beacon without being moved up one or two years, clad in a black corset with crimson laces, combat-skirt with crimson bloom sticking out the bottom. Silver crosses on her black jacket hold up the crimson cape on her back, a belt hanging loosely over the corset and combat-skirt, holding some sniper rounds and a small pouch, probably containing more sniper magazines, as well as a rose emblem. It is obvious to everyone that the outfit is designed after the girls' hair, a dark crimson only really visible on the ends of her hair as the rest appears to be black. Her weapon, in its collapsed form, is clearly visible behind the cape.

The girl in red tries to say something but Miss Schnee just continues to rant, waiving a bottle of Dust around.

The steam punk girl decides to stick around and watch this ordeal play out. As expected, the girl in red sneezes and the Dust around them explodes. That got a giggle from the steampunk girl but it was quiet enough only a Faunus would have picked it up. Miss Schnee continues the rant after the shock has settled and another girl steps in.

This one has a black bow on her head, black hair decorating it. She has her chest covered in a white top with a corset like blouse covering half her stomach. Only one arm has a sleeve but isn't connected to anything. White pants quickly hide beneath dark purple leggings and black boots.

The girl in black and white talks to the heiress a bit, shutting her up pretty fast, and leaves, not waiting for any reaction from either of the other two girls.

Miss Schnee is quickly fleeing the scene and the girl in black and white going back to the airship, the girl in red was left alone. Figuring she has nothing better to do, the steampunk girl moves to introduce herself to the, now collapsed, girl in red.

"It's not even initiation yet and you already exploded", the steampunk girl said while holding out a hand "Name's Sora. Sora Jikan."

The red clad girl looked a bit embarrassed "Ruby. Ruby Rose." Ruby took the hand Sora held out for her. Both of them notice each other's eyes first. Rubys eyes are both silver while Sora's are both a different color. Golden on the right and green on the left.

"You have … _interesting_ eyes", both of them said at the same time, causing Ruby to blush in embarrassment and Sora to chuckle.

"We got some time to kill before the speech Ozpin in going to give. Wanna walk around with me?" Sora said. "I'd love to get to know you a bit."

Rubys embarrassment vanished instantly and was replaced with excitement at the chance of making a new friend already "Sure!"

* * *

Time flew by faster than they realized and soon there was not much to talk about anymore so Ruby decided it was a good idea to pull her weapon out and show off a bit.

"So... I got this thing." Ruby said as her giant scythe slammed into the ground.

"Whoa... That's awesome!" Sora nearly shouted in excitement. "It's also a gun isn't it?"

"Yeah!" Ruby said. "Apart from being a scythe, it's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle."

"Ok, but why not full-auto?" Sora asked intrigued by the design.

Rubys answer followed suit, as if she expected it, "It's because of my Semblance. I can make it shoot faster than a full-auto. So what do you got?"

Sora pulled her sword out of the sheath saying: "I have this." Putting the blade in the palm of her left hand. "It's been a family heirloom for hundreds of years and has not been sharpened or repaired since it left the smiths hands, or so the story goes. Some say it makes you hit harder but I never noticed anything like that. It had a blue twin once but it was lost during the last war, never to be seen again."

"Wow... That's a lot of lore just for two swords. Well, one I guess since we don't know if the blue twin is actually real or not." Ruby said somewhat astonished by the intricate designs on the hilt.

The designs were nothing short of something one would imagine of an enchanted sword, not that magic was an actual thing.

Not long after Rubys statement Sora piped up, saying it was almost time for the speech, so they both made their way over to the auditorium.

"Hey, sis I saved you a spot!", came an unknown voice from nearby.

"Hey, I gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony!" not waiting for a response Ruby went over to a blond girl that was apparently her sister.

Shrugging Sora took a spot in the back to watch the speech.

Clearing his throat Ozpin began. "I'll keep this brief."

_He clearly needs to keep this brief. He looks sleep deprived._ Sora thought

"You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look among you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

As Ozpin said the last sentience, he looked directly at Ruby as if that sentence is meant for her specifically.

After Glynda finished her small part, Sora went up to her.

"Excuse me, Miss Goodwitch?"

Miss Goodwitch wears her blond hair in a bun on the back of her head along with a shoulder long curly strand on the right. Glasses sitting on her nose accenting her green eyes.

Her dark purple cape hanging on her white shirt, which has a hole to show some cleavage and half sleeves. A black body-skirt combination covers what the shirt wouldn't cover goes halfway down the thighs.

From there black stockings cover her legs. Black knee high boots, with a strap to hold her riding crop being her footwear of choice.

"Yes?" came her cold reply.

Sora, not taken aback by this, quickly asked if she could talk with Ozpin tomorrow before initiation begins.

"If you want to ask if you can still enlist as a student here, the answer is no." Glynda summarized.

"No, it's not about that. It's about the murder of a Huntress named Summer Rose."

* * *

**This is my first fanfic I've written and it's probably pretty bad. However, I'd appreciate it if you read and review it so i can make improvements!**

**Furthermore I'd like to dedecate this chapter to tesh_niichan and TheGamerGirls3 on Twitch, since i wrote lots of it with their streams in the backgroud. Much love to the both of them and their family! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Talk**

Sora enters the ballroom and is not surprised to see that boys and girls aren't separated. After all the teams would also be mixed and they would have to get comfortable eventually.

She finds Ruby in the crowd walking over to a tall blond boy, wearing a blue onesie with a bunny on the chest, and starting to talk to him after she apparently finished talking to the girl in black and white.

_'How can that guy expect anyone to take him seriously in that,' _she thought,_ 'oh my god?!'_

Other boys are messing around, flexing their muscles, trying to chat up some girl they find attractive, etc. You know the usual things.

The girls, from outside Vale were not really paying much attention, instead deciding to try to find some new friends among the locals and themselves.

Some students apparently decided it was a good idea to take an early night, which, considering the following day was initiation is a good idea.

"Glynda said I have to be in Ozpin's office a 6:00 AM sharp. Don't wanna be late to that, she looks scary," Sora muttered to herself.

Glynda remained calm as Sora said she knows who killed Summer, how the killer did it, his name, and how he looks. Once Glynda heard that, she gave her a time and the location of Ozpin's office. Sora fully expects to repeat the story to Ozpin, only hoping he would believe her.

From the corner of her eye, she sees something red flying towards her. Connecting the dots from Ruby's choice of clothing to her speed Semblance, our resident steampunk girl quickly figured out that this projectile speeding in her direction must be her.

Not wanting her to run into the wall behind her Sora activates her Aura and tanks the high-speed tackle.

"Where were you? I didn't see you in any of the groups all of us were in as they showed us the school." Ruby asked, very nearly stumbled over her own words, and adding as an afterthought, "Are you not a student?"

Ruby is, as everyone else, in her pajamas. Her black top, that barley covers her small chest, features a red bear shaped like a heart with little ears on top and rows of pointy teeth at the bottom. Two eyes in a darker red and a black triangle nose making the face complete.

Ruby's legs are hiding in white pants with roses all over them.

"OK, give me a second to process what you just said. I was talking to Miss Goodwitch because I have to tell Professor Ozpin something. After I explained the situation to her, which took longer than I wanted to, she gave me a time and the location of Ozpin's office. She told me to meet him early in the morning before initiation begins." Sora explained, "And no, I am not a student. Still I don't expect Ozpin to help me free of charge and since I don't have much in the ways of money I'll have to work it off. Maybe we'll see each other still."

Ruby's questioning look slowly turned into a frown, obviously sad that she wouldn't be on a team with her new friend but still somewhat happy that there was the possibility of seeing her.

"Aww, so I won't be on a team with you. What do you wanna tell Ozpin anyway?"

"That I know some people from a murder-death-cult that controls the Grim and wants to destroy the world and want to help take it down." Sora deadpanned. Her face not moving at all, so it wouldn't show any emotion that would give away the obvious joke.

Ruby didn't laugh. She didn't portray any emotion except skepticism while carefully scanning the steampunk's face for any emotion. Nothing.

"You're joking, aren't you?"

That broke Sora. She busted out laughing; not actually believing Ruby would even begin to think that was real. The other students started to look at the pair so she quickly composed herself.

"Yes Ruby, I was joking." Sora said, still giggling. "I can't believe you actually wanted to believe that! Now I need to go get some rest. I have to rise even earlier than usual if I want to fit my training into my schedule tomorrow."

With that, the steampunk girl made her way into one of the corners of the ballroom, not waiting for a response, finding a comfortable enough sitting position to sleep in. By the speed, she found said position one could see she sleeps like that a lot. A small tune finding her lips as she drifted off to sleep.

_'My name is just a mask that I can hide behind, born into revolution and I'm not taking sides,' _after humming the tune a little further she added. _'I am the lonely blade that cuts you down in the night.'_

* * *

Beacons beautiful silhouette casts a shadow over the campus all the way down to Vale. Airship service hasn't started for the day and won't for the next few hours.

Birds are chirping in the trees, unseen by the untrained eye, hidden in plain sight, such is the nature of the residents of the sky. However, if nature has a way to perfect everything why is there not an animal perfect at hiding? A simple answer really, how would you know? If it is perfect at hiding, how would one notice its presence and much more interesting, what does such a creature do when it finds someone talking to him- or herself? Listen.

Maybe a specimen of such a creature is on Beacon campus right now and nobody knows. Whether or not it even exists matters little in the moment to Sora.

"_Cold, the air and water flowing. Hard, the land we call our home. Push, to keep the dark from coming. Feel the weight of what we are. This, the song of sons and daughters. Hide the heart of who we are. Making peace to build our future, strong, united, working 'till we fall." _Singing this quietly to herself, Sora sits on the cliff near the landing pads for the airships, feet dangling free above the abyss. _"And we all lift, and we're all adrift together. Together! Through the cold mist, 'till we're lifeless together. Together!"_ Humming the melody of this song for a few seconds longer, gradually becoming quieter, the song fades from her lips.

_'Better check the time. I don't know if Miss Goodwitch attends the appointment too. If I'm late she'll chew me out and I don't want any of that.' _Sora shoves the sleeves of the jacket further up to reveal her four watches. Checking each of them and the pocket watch, that had moved from the right pocket to the left, she determents that it is time to start heading towards Beacon-Tower, only having half an hour left until the appointment.

The walk to the tower is nothing short of boring. No song on Sora's lips, only the occasional 2nd year student doing his or her morning jog to warm up for the day, not even a teacher seen anywhere. While walking over campus she feels watched from an odd angle. In fact, it seems to come from the top of Beacon-Tower, which should be empty at this time. Unless of course, Ozpin is already in his office but even then it is too far away to make out any details if one were to look down on the campus from up there. Knowing that the feeling just would not disappear. It made her feel… nervous.

While walking with the feeling, Sora's steps became slower, more careful over time, head snapping from left to right, as if expecting an attack at any moment, while holding the sword half drawn.

That strange feeling stopped as soon as she reached the tower and went into the elevator. Quickly pressing the button for Ozpin's office, wanting to get away from that feeling and wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. Even though that odd feeling was gone, it never left her mind.

* * *

The office, as expected, is empty. The Headmasters chair, turned towards the elevator that opens into the office, is empty and while there are pillars you could hide behind you would be able to see the shadow of anyone hiding.

Other than this, the office is very open. The glass skylight shows the gears that turn the clock seen behind Ozpin's chair. The left shows more, ever-shifting gears.

The elevator opening again pulls Sora form her thoughts about the office and out stepped a sleepy looking Ozpin. Miss Goodwitch came right after him looking very awake, as always having a light glare on her face.

Ozpin wears mostly black clothing with dark green as accents.

Starting at his feet, he wears plain black shoes partially covered by pants that are a little too long for him.

His jacket, also black with green insides, looks very formal and can only be opened by the four buttons on the front. A forest green scarf makes you ask if he doesn't get uncomfortably warm. Strangely, some small cross sits in the center of it.

On his nose sits a pair of black glasses, which nicely accent his silver hair.

As soon as Ozpin sat down, he started talking.

"Glynda here has already filled me in on your situation. Before we get into the details, what I'd like to know is why you haven't gone to anyone else about this matter."

His voice was completely level, leaving no room for argument.

"Summer… she asked me to tell you and only you. It was her dying wish and I can't exactly deny someone's last wish, now can I?" Sora spoke in a sad tone, chuckling nervously at the end. When Ozpin mentioned to continue, she started the story of the murder of Summer Rose.

* * *

"Aww, you have to go so soon? Will you come back?" I whined at Summer. The Huntress had only stayed a few days for a mission but hat already grown on me with her kind soul.

Summer had black shoulder long hair with red ends, held with a braid across the back of her head, silver eyes and a heart-warming smile. Underneath her white cape was a black dress that showed a little cleavage if it weren't covered. The inside of the redheads' cape was in the same shade of crimson red as the tips of her hair.

"Sorry, but my job is done here and the world needs me elsewhere." Summer said in a reassuring tone, "And yes, I will visit again someday. With you lovelies around, I hope it'll be sooner rather than later. Well, I will be on my way. You never know when someone needs your help."

A boop on my nose ended the conversation in a fit of giggles from both of us. She turned around and started walking away while I stayed in the village, no larger than a hundred souls, my giggles having faded into a sad expression while waiving my hand at Summer as she disappeared into the nearby woods.

I eventually turned around and made my way home. It was a small house designed after the silver ratio. It was one of few houses with an emergency shelter, though when there was no emergency we used it as a training hall. Back then, I wanted to become a Huntress like Summer, roaming the word, helping people along the way, fighting Grimm and all that and was actually training under my father, who was considered the villages guard when no Huntsmen were around. It would change that day.

I moved into the guest room Summer has slept in as I promised my parents I'd clean it as soon as I got home. Laying there on the bed I found a small pouch and realized the kind-hearted Huntress must have forgotten it. I practically flew out the front door again, hoping to catch up.

After what felt like hours of running, I finally came into a clearing. Hearing Grimm and fighting I tried to stay out of sight, as I didn't have any weapon on me and would likely only get in the way of the experienced Huntress. She was fighting a butt-load of Grimm, if I dare say, but took them down easily. Yet as I continued to watch, I noticed something odd. It wasn't the number of Grimm but rather their behavior. They acted like they wanted to tire her out before killing her off but usually they would swarm a Huntsman/Huntress and overwhelm him/her with their numbers.

After all Grimm were dead. I moved out of cover and made my way to the clearing but stopped when I noticed a man running at Summer from the side. She noticed him and braced herself for another fight before I could warn her so I simply took cover again.

The following fight was brutal and over as quick as it began. With the man, a scorpion Faunus as it turned out, on top. Somewhere along the fighting he managed to stab Summer with his tail and poisoned her. Laying on the ground as she asked for the name of her killer. "Well, Miss Rose, my name is Tyrian Callows, but that matters little; now does it?"

Tyrian was pale with golden eyes, brown hair made into a ponytail that looked like a scorpion's tail. His open jacket ripped in many places, from the fight with bloodstains around them. Some of these wounds were deep enough to leave scars later. He wore a belt, the same color as his tail, to hold his white pants up.

"Oh, and one more thing." Tyrian added, "Salem sends her regards"

Grimm lunged forward, intending to end the redhead's life. My legs were frozen and my arms shaking in fear, so I did the only thing I could in that moment. I screamed. I screamed "NO!" with every fiber of my being, wanting for time to just stop for a moment. By the time I stopped screaming, my voice hoarse, I looked up. The Grimm hung in the air unmoving, Tyrian unmoving, Summer unmoving. Nothing around me moved so I ran to Summer, tearing my shirt apart planning to bandage the wounds. It was futile of course. If she didn't bleed out that day, the poison would have killed her the next.

I touched her, lifting her a bit to start bandaging, the woman started to move again.

"What… are… you… doing?" she managed to say between breaths.

"I'm trying to save you god damn it!" I yelled in desperation through my hoarse voice, "Now shut up and save your strength."

"I'm not…. going to… make it… and you know it… Just… promise me… this:" Summer's voice getting weaker, "Go… tell… Ozpin..."

Summer stopped moving again. This time she was not going to move again. I slowly laid her down, turned around, grabbed the pouch and ran. I ran back home. I found my parents sitting in the living room watching TV. They were not moving. I jumped onto their laps and cried. They did not understand why I was crying. I did not tell them until I calmed myself hours later. Sometime, while I was crying, time started to move again.

* * *

"For three days, I did not leave my room. One day sleeping because using my semblance for hours at full force left me tired. The other two… I'd rather not talk about. After those three days, I did nothing but think about what happened that day. It was also then I learned that both my aura and semblance had unlocked. I played with it learning how to use it, exploring my limits. At the end of the third day I knew how to, not only stop time but to slow it as well.

On the fourth day, I started training harder and harder every. A few months in, I lost my right eye in a fight with an Ursa Major and now have a real-looking prosthetic in it's place." Sora lifts her hair to reveal the scars covering the right side of her face. "All this was for the sole porpoise to meet you here."

"You want to come to my school?"

"With all due respect Sir, I don't wish to enroll here as a student. The reason I came here was to tell you what happened when Summer died and… ask you for help."

This time Glynda pipes up. "Help with what exactly?"

"I want this 'Tyrian Callows' to be brought to justice. By my hand, if at all possible, if you understand. Now, I also don't expect you to help me for free, don't get me wrong, so I thought I'd be able to help out where I can. Be that as a teacher's assistant or a janitor."

"Very well." Ozpin says, "During initiation you will assist students in need, if they are in grave danger. After that you will report to Miss Goodwitch, who's classes you will be assisting in. Are there any questions?"

A small giggle escaped Sora's lips. "Well, now that we know that you are playing chess, Professor, I'd like to know what I'm playing. Other than that…. When do I start?"

It was Ozpin's time to chuckle now, saying: "Miss Goodwitch will fill you in later, for now you can just follow us."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Initiation**

The prospective students of the prestigious Beacon Academy are standing on the cliff watching over the green and brown carpet that is the Emerald Forest. On this special day initiation begins, or, well was supposed to have already begun.

The students are standing on stone platforms with the Beacon logo carved into them. Under these platforms is a catapult mechanism installed with the express purpose of launching the students into the forest below, where they will have to prove themselves as well as find their teammates. They will stay as teammates for, at the very least, their time at Beacon.

The students are chatting while waiting for the teachers to arrive. This delay is, while unexpected, welcome among them, as they have more time to find out who they want to be teammates with as well as making friends in general.

"What do you think is causing the delay?" Ruby asked to no one in particular, breaking her silence.

"O-oh, uhhh…" Jaune stammered, thinking the question is directed at him, "I don't know Ruby. Maybe something important came up?"

"Oh yeah… Sora did mention an appointment with Ozpin. Probably took longer than expected. Uhhh I'm so excited for this! I can't wait to finally get into Beacon and 2 years early at that!" Ruby rambles on lost in her own world. Meanwhile Professor Ozpin, Miss Goodwitch and Sora come forward to address the group.

"For years you have trained to become warriors" Ozpin begins, "and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… Today." Glynda picked off.

Ozpin simply continues: "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

Sora hears a scared noise. It was Ruby. Rather unsurprising.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next 4 years."

Sora would swear to the day she died that in this moment, she could hear hopes and dreams shatter. "What?!" was Rubys only response.

Ozpin goes on with explaining the situation with a grave tone "Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

At the "or you will die" part another noise came from the crowd. This time from the blond boy with the blue onesie. He was obviously nervous.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not will not intervene."

'_Well what the hell am I supposed to do then? Oh well, if I get the chance to look at some students fighting Grimm I should be able to steal some techniques.' _Sora thinks to herself._ 'I have to remember to ask what classes Miss Goodwitch teaches once I get the chance.'_

The students' objective is simple: Find a temple near the north end of the forest, grab a relic and return to the cliff while trying not to die. Ozpin ignores any questions as Miss Goodwitch starts to send off students my catapulting them off the cliff.

"Now onto your initiation, Miss Jikan." Miss Goodwitch started.

* * *

"Birdy no!" Ruby shouted as she hit a crow on her way down. Her strategy for landing safely on the ground consists of shooing a few rounds towards the ground, creating backwards momentum, which only sowed her decent minimally. So instead, she hooks her scythe on a tree branch, swinging around it before jumping off repeating the process.

Weiss simply used her glyph semblance to create platforms to jump from.

Another student in green hooks his weapon into the bark of a tree, circling around it the ground.

Rubys sister propels herself forward with the knock back of her weapons, shouting in excitement. Once near enough to the ground she jumps from tree to tree, finishing with a roll, landing on her feet.

Another student with pure red hair in Greek armor, who is clearly Phyrra Nikos, top graduate of Sanctum Academy, record-holder for the most consecutive wins in the Mistral Regional Tournament (4 years), crashes shield first through 3 trees before landing on a tree.

She instantly starts scouting the surrounding area in search of her objective and would-be teammates.

A blond boy with minimal armor and a sword finds herself in Phyrra's cross hairs.

Said blond is falling plan less through the air and would have most likely died if Phyrra didn't save him.

* * *

Landing with a roll and running at inhuman speeds Ruby is lost in thoughts trying to figure out who to team up with until she almost runs over the unsuspecting heiress from behind.

A moment of silence passes when Weiss suddenly turns around and leaves Ruby behind – well... she would have if she hadn't run in to the blond boy from earlier, who is currently stuck to a tree -. Weiss turned around grabbing Ruby by the hood of her cape, dragging her along.

Shortly after the two of them left, Phyrra shows up and gets Jaune down.

* * *

Elsewhere in the forest a sister is already fighting a duo of Ursai. The first is quickly dealt with after he manages to cut off a single one of her hair. As the second one charges to attack it gets attacked from the back. The girl in black and white pulled out her weapon and stowed it away.

The blond was about to say something when a shrouded form runs at her from the bushes to the side, sword ready to strike her across the throat.

Hastily dodging out of the way the sword passed by at the cost of her balance. Not wasting time trying to understand whats happening the girl in black and white starts attacking the new threat.

The shrouded figure now came for her, as the blond brawler was still perplexed on the ground. Stepping around a downward slash and turning with the momentum it struck the girl at the back of her knee, bringing her down to a kneeling position and changing targets to the blond.

"Yang! Watch out, he's good!" the girl in black and white called out to her teammate. Yang is already up and waiting for the attacker to come close when something unexpected happenes. The shrouded figure puts his sword away and continues his mad dash. Yang uses her weapon to fire a dust round at him, which is quickly dodged by a roll to the side, continued by another roll forward as Yang fires another shot in the assailants path.

With the attacker close enough that Yang has to enter close combat, she prepares for a fistfight when another unexpected thing happens. One moment the guy is in front of Yang and the next he's kicking her in the back of the head. Getting frustrated the blond calls to her teammate.

"A little help here, Blake?"

Blake though was already on her legs again getting ready to shoot at the attacker who is harassing Yang yet he is already gone without a trace.

"Where is he? He couldn't have just disappeared on us!" Yang said.

"I don't know... maybe a teleport semblance? It would explain how he suddenly appeared behind you."

"Maybe... Oh well, we have an initiation to pass. Let's go!"

* * *

In another part of the forest, Weiss has been left alone by Ruby and is currently fighting a hoard of Beowolf, led by a Beowolf Alpha. Just as Weiss is about to strike Ruby comes straight out of nowhere and attacks Weiss' target, forcing her to miss and discharge the dust into the nearest tree, setting it on fire. Once said tree falls over both of them run away from the Grimm.

When they were far enough away they took a small break. Ruby was about to say something when a sword hit her back sending her to the ground. Her teammate, though perplexed at the sudden attack, got ready for a fight with the shrouded figure that is attacking them.

Weiss lets her dust chamber spin ending up on a light green chamber – wind dust – and slashes her rapier from right to left, sending a sharp gust of wind harmlessly over Ruby. The assailant bends backwards, overbalancing himself and forcing him to backflip. Weiss dashes after him, easily jumping over Ruby and sends a complicated routine of stabs at the shrouded attacker.

After the heiress' assault ended the attacker went to attack himself but got stopped by a massive scythe on his neck.

"Who are you? Why are you here? What do you want?" Ruby said almost too quickly to understand.

Ruby didn't get her answers as Weiss slams into her from behind, being kicked by the attacker, that still should have been at the business end of Rubys scythe. As they got up and look around to find the guy they only found empty space. Like the way he came out of thin air, he seems to have turned back to thin air.

"That was weird…" Ruby stated.

"Yes, we should be more careful in case he decides to attack again."

With that, the two continue on their way, more on guard this time.

* * *

A King Taijitu finds a student in green. He dodges its attacks with great acrobatics when its head catches him in mid-air. Through another show of great skill and control over his body, he turns multiple times in the air, landing safely on his feet.

The monster, however, had other plans, circling around the green boy, trying to trap him and attack when he can't dodge. The boy had other plans. He draws his weapons out of his sleeves and jumps out of the attempted trap, kicking the Grimm in his face and slicing under its head on his way down. The Grimm launches another desperate attack, which he swiftly answers with an ax-kick to the ground followed by two stabs behind its bone mask.

Staying in his kneeling position, the boy waits for the second King Taijitsu, which had tried to sneak up on him, to attack. He jumps to the side, now having to deal with another one of them, with the first not even killed yet.

A small two-on-one skirmish breaks out during which the green boy gets knocked back loses his weapons. He barely has enough time to sit up and raise his hands to protect himself from the incoming attack. He hold the first Taijitsu off with his bare hands before ripping some teeth out of its mouth and smashing one into its eye and using his aura to propel it out the other side, making its head explode.

The second one dies in a similar fashion.

A redheaded girl chooses this moment to swing down from a tree branch and boop the boy on the nose. A smile forms between them making it obvious that there is something more than friendship between them when the boy in green suddenly stiffens.

"Ren, what do you feel?" asked the redhead.

"Someone is watching us. He is very close too."

Both of them got into a ready stance when Ren suddenly jumps to the side narrowly dodging the pointy end of a grappling hook aimed at his chest. As the hook connects to a fallen over tree on the other end of the clearing a dark figure shoots out of the bushes. Gunshots from the left of the assailant distract him from the giant hammer coming in at chest height. He loses his grip on the handle flying back into a tree, quickly trying to take advantage of the situation Ren run towards the figure and holds him at gunpoint.

"Nora, take his mask off. Let's see who this is." The green boy said. As Nora tries to grab the mask, she finds herself pushed into Ren with a sweep of her feet and a powerful push to her side.

Quickly getting up again, they find him running to his grappling hook at inhuman speed, finally disappearing into the woods again.

"Who was that?"

"I don't know but I feel we will run into him again."

* * *

"A cave! We should check it out." Jaune said. Phyrra is happily following him, killing most of the Grimm attacking them when suddenly they come to one of the cliffs surrounding the Emerald Forest.

"I think we went in the wrong direction, Jaune." Phyrra said trying to convince him to turn around and head into the right direction.

Jaune is about to say something when someone storms out of the cave with a giant Deathstalker in his wake and stops a few yards away, turns around and stabs his sword through its tough bone-like exoskeleton, up to the hilt into its head. The remaining momentum pushes the shrouded figure a bit further back before coming to a stop, the Deathstalker already starting to disappear.

"Whoah! That was awesome!" Jaune shouted from where he stands.

The figure looks up, clearly surprised at the sound and slowly gets ready for a fight. Phyrras hands go to her own weapons as she told Jaune to get ready too. The figure took slow careful steps backwards as he was obviously out of breath from running out of the cave. With a last deep breath the figure dashes at Phyrra at inhuman speed trying to slash at her legs. She blocks the attack and tries to counter but the figure has already jumped backwards, disengaging. Jaune, trying to take his opportunity, tries to attack from behind but steps on a dry leaf, which alerts the attacker. Not turning away from Phyrra he smashes the swords pommel into Jaunes nose making him fall over and hit the ground hard.

"Phyrra! I recognize that hilt! That's the girl that was with Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch!" Jaune shouts to Phyrra before getting a kick in the face, knocking him out.

Not wasting a single moment Phyrra moves to get one of her Aura shattering combo-attacks in, abusing her semblance as much as possible during it. Sora, moving at impossible speed again, blocks all but two strikes aimed at her hip and one at her abdomen. She tried to get some counter attacks in to interrupt Phyrra and while most of them hit, the combo continued. As Sora goes for horizontal slice at her opponents' chest, she finds it slowed by some unknown force and ultimately blocked by Phyrras shield. Sora has no time to figure out why her blade slowed down as Phyrra immediately switches her weapon into its spear configuration and counter attacks with three stabs aiming at different spots. Sora blocks the first and last attack and manages to force Phyrra into a deadlock, ultimately making this into a contest of strength. With a forceful step forward Sora changes the power balance and slips her blade beneath Phyrras weapon and shield, forcing her to jump back.

Both fighters disengage with smiles on their faces. They are enjoying the thrill of this fight, as they seem to be about equal in skill, though obvious Sora has more raw physical power while Phyrra has more agility.

Sora is the first to speak up saying, "Well this is fun but your partner seems to be waking up and you have an initiation to pass. So how about this: if you manage to pass I'll have a word with Miss Goodwitch and we'll have an all-out fight during combat class."

With this Sora puts her sword away and patiently waits for her opponent to answer. "Alright, but only if you tell me why you attacked us."

"I will, don't worry about that, but there are others who'll want to hear this too, so I'll tell you at the end of initiation." Standing up, Sora begins to walk into the forest once more, disappearing without a trace.

* * *

"I see you're all assembled now"

Confusion appears in everyone at the abandoned ruins. The groups Yang and Blake, Ruby and Weiss, Nora and Ren go for their weapons thinking they get attacked again. Phyrra and Jaune though leave their weapons where they are even as the shrouded figure that attacked all of them comes out of his hiding place in the bushes next to the ruins. Once they see him, they run in to attack first, however they find themselves on the ground and without weapons.

"Now I'm sure you're all asking yourself wh-" The figure is interrupted by Yang who went to attack even after losing her weapon. The figure, though caught off-guard at first, easily parries the blow and immobilizes her.

"As I was saying you all are probably wondering who the hell I am." That being said he, or rather, she rips the shroud off her face.

"Sora?" Ruby cried out. "But why?" The others clearly wanted to ask the same questions but Ruby was simply faster.

"You're not the only ones with an initiation. Look, I'll tell you what happened after you guys were launched off the cliff."

* * *

_Earlier that day_

"Now onto your initiation, Miss Jikan." Miss Goodwitch started. "You will play the role of a rogue student, meaning your objective is to disrupt and delay any pair or single student you come across while not killing them. Professor Ozpin will personally monitor you to evaluate your combat level and compatibility for Beacon teams as you will act as emergency backup for teams on a mission as well as assisting in my combat classes."

"You will essentially get the same rights and duties as a Huntress-in-Training for our time working alongside each other. For this we need to know how powerful and skilled you are to have you act on maximum efficacy." Ozpin added.

"OK, good, I was wondering how to pass the time while waiting for the others to come back and you answered on of my questions too. I see this as an absolute win! So, are you going to throw me off the cliff with the launch pads too or do I have to climb down?"

* * *

Without waiting any further, the round of questions begins.

"So how _did_ you get down?" Weiss asked. "You hardly climbed or else you'd still be at the cliff."

"Yeah and how did you get from my scythe to Weiss without me seeing?" Ruby asked.

Blake piped up, saying, "How did you find us so fast? If you attacked every group here, you must have known where we were. Even then, we didn't hear you fight with the others so we must have been pretty far away from each other."

Yang remains quiet but keeps struggling against Soras grip holding her in place.

Nora wasn't listening and thus also not asking any questions.

Ren however, is listening "And why did you wait until groups were formed instead of picking us off one by one?"

Jaune, not wanting to wait any longer for his turn, cut off Phyrras question. "Phyrra and I saw you kill that giant Deathstalker with one hit, how'd you do that?"

"And where did you learn to fight like that? You were on par with me after fighting all of them, running from place to place and killing that Deathstalker." Phyrra said after patiently waiting for Jaune to finish.

"Ok, ok," Sora begins "from top to bottom, I got launched down like you guys and landed by grappling to a tree and rolling off the ground.

I got from the business end of your scythe to Weiss by using my semblance to its maximum. I can control how slow time around me moves. I can't manipulate the area of effect and I can't make time pass faster around me. Going forward and backward in time is also a no.

Finding you was harder than fighting you guys. I had to run around the forest hoping to find you before I run out of aura and yes, you were far away from each other.

I waited till the groups formed because I wanted to see how well, freshly formed teams can work together and adapt to quickly changing situations.

Me killing that Deathstalker was more physics than anything else. My sword is the sharpest sword ever made and is said to make one stronger but heavier and has never been sharpened after it left the smithy but that's just legend. It impaled itself on my blade.

My fighting style is mostly self-taught. My father and I were training together ever since I was able to hold a blade. From that day onward, we fought every day for hours on end. He didn't teach me a fighting style instead telling me to learn one myself so I would become unpredictable while fighting, making me a force to be reckoned with."

Any further questions are stopped by the ear-piercing screech of the giant Nevermore in the sky.

"Now how do we deal with that?" said more to herself than anyone else.

"We should just grab a relic and make a run for it." Said Jaune with Ruby voicing her agreement.

"You could do that, yes, but..." Sora said considering that option before letting her voice drop to menacing levels "I still want to have some fun"

Everyone immediately got ready for a fight before Sora added, "I don't want to fight you, I meant the Nevermore. You, redhead, Nora was it? Help me build a lever with the pillars and stones of the ruins."

After that is done, Sora climbs on one side and tells Nora to smash the other one as hard as she can.

Sora flies. That is the best way to describe it. She screams in excitement as she flies at the Nevermore. "I didn't think this through," she yelled at no one in particular. "Ok, let's do this!"

Sora closes in on the Grimm and reaches in her jacket. From there she pulls out her grappling hook and shoots it at the Nevermores wing, swinging around it she disengaged the hook and landed on its back. The Nevermore shakes violently to get Sora off. Quickly running to one of its wings, she begins hacking and slashing at its hide, easily cutting. Eventually cutting the wing off. The Nevermore, now unable to stay aloft, starts to plummet in the direction of the ruins near the northern cliff of the Emerald Forest.

Soras adrenaline filled mind goes into autopilot mode, so as soon as the cliffs come into range of her grappling hook, she jumps off using the grapple to make sure she lands safely. Sora fell to her knees, a smile on her face that puts the Cheshire cat to shame, "I want to do that again." is all she manages to say through the adrenaline high.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The First Day**

Sora wakes up the next morning, reminiscing about a dream she just had. In it, she stood in a forest clearing near a crystal clear lake. A great phoenix stood in front of her. Its majestic feathers looking like they were perpetually burning yet at the same time never turning to ash. The enormous bird, towering above her at twice her height, let out a strange warble as it fully spread its wings out seemingly inviting her to take one of its feathers. Just as Sora was about to touch them the dream ended.

She read may legends back home, many of them which feature phoenix' describe them as incredibly rare and equally as dangerous.

Some of these legends say they are made entirely out of flames, burning until they die, while others say they only burn at the time of their death. When a phoenix dies, some say nothing but a few feathers are left behind the rest turning to ash. The chick then lives in the ash of their past life and eats it until it is strong enough to hunt for its own food again.

All of these legends only have few things in common; a phoenix is a terrifying yet remarkable sight to behold, their tears can heal almost any wound, the amazing rewards of finding a newly reborn one and the ability of their feathers to bring back a recently deceased person.

If one manages to catch one, it is said it's because the great bird thought of the captor as worthy enough and would stay loyal to them in even the darkest of times.

"I wonder if Professor Ozpin heard of phoenix' before. There are few books left that even hint at their existence, even fewer that mention them at all."

As Sora got ready for the day, a light tune finds her.

'_Hold on to hope, I'm homeward bound. In the darkest of nights there's light to be found, when a hero is born of fire, shine through the shadow of doubt.'_

She crashed in one of the rooms usually reserved for travelling Huntsmen and Huntresses for the night as there weren't any other rooms left after the new teams, that got assigned the evening right after initiation, got their dorms assigned. She knows this probably isn't anything permanent but it would make do for the time being.

The evening before the new teams got announced and she was introduced to the student body and staff and Miss Goodwitch's assistant and backup for teams in need of help. This morning however is the first in Sora's new line of work for the foreseeable future and she was, to say the least, very excited. So excited in fact that she woke up long before her alarm, as it is still dark outside. By the time Sora was ready, the first rays of light are appearing on the horizon, so she decides to start her morning training with a light jog around campus before heading to the combat arenas.

She leaves out the front door towards campus and notices the feeling of being watched returning. This time it doesn't come from the top of Beacon tower, but right in front of her. Sora dares not to move, the feeling making her uneasy. Stopping time for a moment to reach forward to check if someone or something is actually there. Whatever it is, it isn't physical, as the nerves in her fingers give no feedback of touching something other than air. Yet she _knows_ something has to be there. She just doesn't have enough information yet. Letting time resume, with the unnerving feeling of being watched, she continues through her morning, meeting a few students and teachers along the way. Among these students is team CFVY, who are training in their combat gear.

Coco Adel as team leader, Fox Alistair as second in command, followed by Velvet Scarletina and Yatsuhashi Daichi. Coco's fair skin and beautiful dark brown hair are proof that she takes much care with her hygiene. Her clothes consist of a long, cocoa-colored shirt with a dark brown waist cincher. She wears long, dark brown trousers with ribbons on the left side and a brown belt with cartridges.

Above it, she wears another cocoa-colored belt of cartridges with a gold crosshairs buckle. What appears to be a drape of black skirt hangs on her right side. She wears a pair of dark brown, high-heeled leather boots with buckles.

Just like Sora, Coco also dons a number of accessories, such as a bracelet with black roses as decoration; these are accompanied by black gloves and necklaces. She wears a beret of a darker brown and a pair of black, wire-rimmed aviator sunglasses. She is seen holding a black shoulder bag with gold studs, which is held by a bandoleer strap; the bag is her weapon, transforming into an oversized black and gold mini gun.

Fox' outfit is rather minimalistic, wearing a sleeveless, muted orange zipper vest with black lining and a high collar, a pair of black jeans, and brown, laced shoes. His eyes are pure white, showing that he is physically blind. His arms are covered in scars, and he has a vertical scar on his lips.

He also wears a pair of long black gloves and has several pouches attached to his belt.

Velvet has long, brown hair and brown eyes. She also has a pair of brown rabbit ears, identifying her as a Faunus.

Velvet is wearing a short, long-sleeved brown jacket with a golden zipper, brown shorts with golden detail and black leggings. She wears a black, semi-translucent undershirt beneath her jacket, along with golden spaulders and vambraces on both arms, as well as a similar belt, and her heel and toes are likewise protected.

Yatsuhashi is a tall and athletic-looking young man with shaved-short black hair and tanned skin, wearing mostly pale-green and brown attire.

He has a long short-sleeved robe, which he wears on one shoulder over a black muscle shirt. The robe is fastened at the waist by a leather-armored belt with two pouches on it. He also wears brown pants and black-and-green boots. His left arm bears a 5-layer sode, which extends up past his shoulder.

His weapon is affixed to his back with a padded brown strap slung over his shoulder. He also wears a pair of bracers as well as a pair of black gloves with green plates on the backs.

Upon meeting the group decides to take a small break to get to know each other, however it never got any further than pleasant small talk or trivial discussions and lighthearted bragging about previous adventures. Soon enough everyone went one their way again.

Deciding that Sora has warmed up enough, she makes her way to class.

* * *

The arena is huge and even that doesn't exactly fit the bill. It felt like Sora entered a throne room that at the same time doubles down as a cathedral, just without the throne and decoration one would expect to find in there. The whole room is shrouded in darkness, barely illuminated by the mandatory emergency lights that connect entrance to arena, the locker room with the students' armor and weapons and another door leading to brothers know where. Curiosity getting the better of her, Sora makes her way over to it, yet just before she gets the chance to lay a hand on the handle the door violently swings open. Jumping back out of trained reflex, Sora doesn't get a face full of door.

"Oh, Miss Jikan. You're already here." Said a voice that demanded respect.

"Ah, Miss Goodwitch," Sora answered, quickly getting to her feet. "Yeah, I woke up early and am already done with my morning routine so I thought I'd come by early and get myself familiar with the arena." Today the 4th year students are scheduled to train first followed by the 2nd and 1st years. Looking at the time Miss Goodwitch determines that Sora may as well get herself a training dummy out of a side room and get some more training in until classes start or help her with some important papers.

After a moment of thinking, Sora decides to get a spare training sword, they keep incase a weapon breaks and the student can't get a replacement in time, and practice basic swings and slashes. One could never practice the basics too little, for if you don't master the basics you can never hope to achieve anything else. Practicing gives Sora a lot of time to think about stuff. The first thing that comes to mind is home. One of the biggest settlements in the kingdom of Vale, located near the ocean connecting all continents and, until recently, plagued by a monstrous Grimm. Of course, all Grimm are monster, but this one was in a league of its own. It took a full raid party of 90 people to take down, yet even with so many capable warriors, several lives were lost. She herself had been part of the raid but it's a story for another time as the students started to trickle into the arena, which meant Sora had to clear out so everything would be ready once classes start. Deciding it would be a good idea to stick with Miss Goodwitch for now Sora heads into the small side room she had entered earlier. "I'm sure you've already noticed that the first students are here, Miss Goodwitch, but I thought I'd let you know."

After waiting for a response for some time, Sora looked at Miss Goodwitch a little closer. She seems very interested in those papers of hers and doesn't notice her surroundings. Trying to catch the teachers attention succeeded after pointing out that it is merely five minutes before sparring classes start.

* * *

About an hour into class Miss Goodwitch asks into the crowd if anyone would be willing to volunteer for one last sparring fight. One female student jumps up from her seat, saying: "I'll fight! And I'll fight her!"

The young woman speaking up has rainbow colored dread locks and a slight natural tan to her skin. With her lean figure and cute face, she is irresistible for both men and women alike.

"Heh, you know I have a Name. And I also believe you've been told Miss… Jaeger, was it?"

Before anything else could have been said between these two, Miss Goodwitch told the two of them to just get ready. Miss Jaeger goes into the locker rooms and Sora simply waits in the center of the arena.

Her sword hanging lazily in her hand she prepares for the fight ahead with Simple stretches for every joint in her body while being careful that her jackets doesn't open and spill their contents. As Sora waits for Miss Jaeger to finish changing, a song stomps its way into her mind like a mad titan.

"_Believe me, I know, I've sunk pretty low. But whatever I've done you've deserve! I'm the bad guy, that's fine, it's no fault of mine and some justice at last will be served. Now it's time to step up or it's time to back down and there's only one answer for me! And I'll stand up and fight and I know that I'm right and I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready! Ready as I'll ever be." _She sings in an angelic voice she often uses. While singing Sora failed to notice her opponent, exiting the locker room and taking position opposite of her. Taking in her sparring partners' new appearance only, a few things seem of importance. She is a sword fighter, light leather armor and her hair tied back into a ponytail.

On Miss Goodwitchs' signal the fight began.

This strange feeling returned, yet it felt different from before somehow. Almost like she did this a thousand times before.

Both fighters charge and meet in the middle, their weapons in a deadlock. Not a second later both disengaged again and started circling each other looking for openings in the others defense. To an inexperienced fighter it might look like neither of them want to fight but they would be wrong. They are enjoying the fight. Someone on the same level of strength and skill is rare to find and sure to result in a fun fight. After half a rotation, Sora runs at Jaeger and broadcasts her attack with a wide swing but before it can connect with Jaegers block, she changes the direction of her attack to the other side and takes off a good chunk of her Aura but not breaking though. Quickly dodging the counter attack by ducking under it, Sora fails to notice the knee coming at her face. Using the momentum she backflips out of range, followed by more backflips to put more distance between them as her instincts yell at her to dodge. As the two of them come to a halt, they begin circling again.

"Nice faint," Miss Jaeger complements.

"You're counter attack wasn't bad either," Sora rebuts.

A quick look at the Aura levels from both of them shows the kick wasn't nearly as strong as expected, only taking off about a percent. Looking away from her opponent proves to be a mistake for Sora as a moment later as she's thrown backwards into the stands but dodges a downward slash with a roll to the side. Pushing off with one leg, she launches herself forward to retaliate. Miss Jaeger, expecting another slash, tries to move back, is however getting overwhelmed by Sora's unexpected speed. Her attempt at trying to change the fights momentum back in her favor is met by Sora jumping over her and spinning in a front flip, slicing at Jeagers head in a way not dissimilar to a helm splitter before landing behind her and turning for a follow-up spinning attack bringing Jaeger down to 73%.

As Sora landed, Miss Goodwitch, checking the time between taking notes, says "I realize both of you are enjoying this but class is almost over, so I'll have to ask you two to hurry up."

Sora, not missing a beat after her last attack, shot her hook shot at the still stumbling Miss Jaeger to pull her back and finish this as quickly as she can. The hook misses barely as Miss Jaeger moves to the side, avoiding it, grabbing the line and pulling Sora into her fist. Sora dodges my moving her head to the side on the last possible second before sweeping the legs out from under Miss Jaeger sending her stumbling to the ground. A kick to the face with steel-toed boots sends her sliding across the ground before she can roll backwards and jump to her feet. Miss Jaeger, trying to get on the attack again, runs at Sora to get her Aura level lower and win via time out. Her fist slash is easily brought into a deadlock, the follow up fist pushed to the side and a desperate kick sends her to the ground once more as Sora pushes the sword away and out of her hand. A boot on her chest prevents Miss Jaeger to stand up as Sora goes for the finishing blow.

Before Sora gets to attack, she's forced to back off as the sword flies in from the side. She's forced to back of further as the weapon circles back again and again from new angles. This gives Miss Jaeger the opening she needs to finally regain her calm. After a moment of catching her breath, she runs at Sora and slips fists and feet past Sora's defense. Although each individual attack isn't doing a lot of damage, the sum of them isn't something you can simply ignore.

It takes a moment for Sora to adjust and work out a new defense routine, batting the blade away and jumping between fists and kicks. Lots of openings are intentionally left open on both sides of the fight but neither jumps on the opportunity. After a while, Sora hits the flying blade towards Miss Jaeger who catches it in her hand with practiced ease.

"What's your name, Miss Jaeger" Sora askes in between blocking slashes and counter attacking.

"Bismuth. Bismuth Jaeger."

"Well then Miss Bismuth Jaeger, I believe it's high time for us to finish this." A smile pulling on her lips as she says it. Without waiting for an answer, Sora takes her sword in both hands and starts channeling her Aura into it. The legendary blade accepting it remarkably easy, its blade turning a blood-like crimson, as if the steel itself had been forged out of pure blood. Once the blade is fully red. She runs at Bismuth, the sword now back in one hand, ready to end this fight in one final attack. Bismuth stands her ground intending to block the attack and go in for a devastating combo attack. The blade coming in from the right in a fast and powerful arc. Bismuth's blade coming up for a block. The blades clashed together for a split second before Sora's crimson blade pushes through the steel of Bismuths sword like butter and into Bismuth herself, shattering her Aura and sending her to the ground, ending the fight.

As Sora helps her opponent back to her feet, Miss Goodwitch went about dismissing the class before turning towards Sora and Bismuth.

"Both of you should work on your parrying. I'd recommend a training to improve speed and reaction times or possibly a small shield. Miss Jaeger I recommend not trying to block an attack when you don't know its power and for you Miss Jikan you should improve your reaction times. That is all for now."

* * *

As Sora comes back out of the shower and steps back into the arena Miss Goodwitch is already waiting for her. Other than shooting her a confused look Sora decides not to say anything.

"So, what did you think?" Miss Goodwitch asks before turning her attention back to her notes.

"Think about what? The fight?" A subtle nod was all Sora got for an answer so she tries to think back to it. "Well, now that I think about it, it doesn't seem like Miss Jaeger is a sword fighter at all. Her stance is too low and while her style and semblance did give me trouble for a while, it just seemed off somehow. It's as if, I don't know, it's like the sword is uncomfortably heavy in her hand. In my opinion she should be fighting with knives and daggers, especially if she can control more than one weapon at a time she can defeat just about anybody. She's strong and agile and I believe that when she had a weapon she was truly comfortable with, I probably would have lost. Then again, it didn't feel like this was the first time I fought her." After a small pause she added, "I wonder… Eh, might be nothing"

"You're good," Miss Goodwitch compliments, "Yes, Miss Jaeger does primarily fight with knives. This was supposed to be a test of how well you can read your opponent in the middle of a fight. It is easier to find flaws from an outside perspective so I had you fight her, while she intentionally uses a different weapon. That is all for today, feel free to familiarize yourself with school grounds."

"Actually, I was hoping I could still do something before the next class starts. My blade still has a lot of Aura channeled in it and its going to be dangerous to leave it like that."

"And what would you do exactly?"

"Nothing big, I'm simply going to use up everything still inside."

"Very well then. I'll be in my office if you need anything."

Not waiting for another answer Miss Goodwitch turns around and leaves for her office. Sora pulls out her blade and takes it into both hands.

Miss Goodwitch, who is still walking towards the door, notices a small wind pick up and the sound in the arena dulling. She puts it off as a simple matter of sleep deprivation from nights spent staying up late for Ozpin. That is, until she sees her shadow in front of her. That wouldn't have been odd in and of itself if all the lights in the arena were on, which they aren't. She turns around and has to shield her eyes at the sight. Sora is standing in the middle of the arena, holding her sword out with her eyes closed in concentration. The light just seems to bend towards it. Not just the light. At a second glance, that light looks to be pulling in everything around her. Dust, air, light, dirt, nothing is safe from the growing vortex. By now, everything is silent to the point where one could hear their own breath, that is, if they were able to keep enough about themselves to remember to. Not a moment later, the light flickers once, then twice. Looking over to Sora, Miss Goodwitch finds a distressed look on her face. Instinctively knowing that, that could not be a good sign she takes out her riding crop and activates her semblance getting ready to push Sora out of any possible dangers. The light flickers again, this time longer than before.

This gave her a good enough reason to stop whatever Sora is trying to do.

With a flick of the wrist, Sora lifts off her feet, letting go of the blade. Not a moment after the blade hits the ground, with not even enough time for Sora to hit the ground, the light bursts outward, turning everything around them into a white void that stretches on forever in all directions followed by an intense roaring. This all only goes on for a few seconds yet feels like an eternity. As the light disperses, the world puts itself back together and everything else catches up almost immediately. A shockwave sends Miss Goodwitch sliding into the door behind her and Sora flies into the far wall.

The sound of Aura shattering, debris hitting the floor and a dull thud are the last things that fill Sora's ears before her world turns dark.


End file.
